via Strategika
Strategika Issue 51 is now available online. Strategika is an online journal that analyzes ongoing issues of national security in light of conflicts of the past—the efforts of the Military History Working Group of historians, analysts, and military personnel focusing on military history and contemporary conflict.
by Thomas Karako via Strategika
The United States has long been committed to stemming the further proliferation of nuclear weapons among both potential adversaries and friends alike. As the recent Nuclear Posture Review observes, “nuclear non-proliferation today faces acute challenges.” The current locus of this challenge is in northeast Asia.
interview with Michael McFaul via World Class
Hoover Institution fellow Michael McFaul interviews Dr. Siegfried Hecker, the former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, concerning the logistical challenges of denuclearization, how the North Korean case is different from Iran, and what scenarios to watch for as the US contemplates a new relationship with the North Koreans.
quoting Stephen Kotkin via Eurasia Review
Historian Stephen Kotkin said in Foreign Affairs, “The arc of history bends towards delusion.” Nowhere is that more clearly seen than in the delusional prognostications experts and policymakers have taken towards President Trump leaving the Iran nuclear deal, otherwise known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). National security, foreign policy, and realist balancing are under assault by emotions and groupthink instead of careful, factual analysis.
By Sue Ghosh Stricklett, RealClearDefense: “Nuclear blackmail, a card often played by rogue regimes in diplomatic negotiations, is rendered ineffective by the U.S. ballistic missile defense system.”
(C4ISRNET) In April the Missile Defense Agency announced a successful missile defense tracking exercise at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. Subsequent events have given the test particular weight.
(Defense News) The contract is financially backed by a consortium of international buyers, as the U.S. and its allies continue to modernize the sea-based ballistic missile defense capability.
By Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg: “The Pentagon and the top Republican House lawmaker overseeing defense spending are united in opposing an effort to shift $1 billion from other defense projects into a down payment on two additional Virginia-class submarines that wouldn’t be put under contract until 2022 and 2023.”
By Oriana Pawlyk, DoD Buzz: “"Part of the emphasis with our multi-domain operations that we're doing with the Army is trying to find ways that we can defeat these systems together, so that we can get in there faster and be more effective sooner."”